Tulsa's D'Angelo Brewer had his third career 200+ rushing game, but the visiting Temple Owls (6-6, 4-4 AAC) clinched bowl eligibility Saturday with a 43-22 victory over the Golden Hurricane (2-10, 1-7 AAC).
Brewer finished the game with 255 rushing yards, giving him a school record three career 200+ rushing games, his 8th 100+ game of the year and a school record 17th 100+ game of his career. The senior surpassed 100 yards rushing in the first half for the 4th time this season with 146 yards.
Brewer, Tulsa's all-time rushing leader, completed his career with 3,917 yards, while finishing the season with 1,517 yards to rank third on the school's single-season rushing list.
Tulsa was without starting quarterback Luke Skipper going into the game, and lost backup Chad President in the 2nd quarter. Sophomore Will Hefley III saw his first playing time for the Hurricane when he replaced President and finished the game as Tulsa's signal-caller.
The Hurricane gained 314 yards rushing, but threw for just 55 yards on six completions, the first sub-100-yard passing game since Nov. 14, 2014 against UCF.
Tulsa gave up 31 first-half points, while holding the Owls to 12 second-half points. Tulsa's defense held Temple to 110 second-half yards after giving up 341 yards in the first 30 minutes.
After holding Temple to 4 plays on the game's first possession, President guided the Tulsa offense 90 yards in eight plays on the subsequent possession and capped the drive with a 35-yard touchdown pass to Justin Hobbs for an early 7-0 lead.
The Owls scored the next 17 points on a field goal, a 28-yard pass play and nine-yard run to take a 17-7 lead at the 12:08 mark of the 2nd quarter. A 28-yard Redford Jones field goal snapped Tulsa's scoreless streak, cutting its deficit to 17-10 with 7:44 left on the first-half clock.
The Owls added a touchdown at the 5:40 mark of the 2nd quarter for a 24-10 lead after a 65-yard pass play set-up a one-yard touchdown run. Just before halftime, an interception under one minute by Temple's Derrek Thomas returned to the Tulsa 2-yard line saw the Owls take a 31-13 lead one play later.
At halftime, Temple held a 341 to 254-yard advantage in total offense, while 214 of Tulsa's yards came on the ground.
Tulsa opened the second half with a 9-play, 72-yard drive and it was Brewer's 14-yard run that cut the Temple lead to 31-20 at the 10:19 mark of the 3rd period. After a 3-and-out on Tulsa's next possession, Temple's Isaiah Wright took back a punt 72 yards to increase its lead to 37-20.
The Owls added a touchdown after a fumble recovery late in the 4th quarter, while the PAT was blocked by Diamon Cannon and returned by Christian Williams for two points, making the final score 43-22.
Tulsa suffered three turnovers in the game, as two of those led to 13 points for the Owls.
TU Ends Season With A Loss
Tulsa Hurricane.com